Dry January 2023

[Wiler77 1566]

 

[Homercles 10205]

2 hours ago, troph said:

Tell me you’re in your thirties or early forties without telling me you’re in your thirties or early forties. 

The one tailgate I stopped by, I couldn’t tell if he was 25 or 65…I’m 42 and anything more than 1 drink per hour with lots of water and 2-3 dry hours before bedtime fucks with my sleep.  

[troph 24798]

age 44-45 is when 2-3 drinks (possibly even 1) started being a problem for my sleep and next morning. hangovers had already moved to 2-3 days to recover so I had quit having more than 2-3 dinks at a time a few years before that, probably by 40 I'm guessing.  That 4th drink on a friday or saturday night now comes with the requirement that I decide how productive I want to be the next day. If I really want to get up and go, it's 2 or less.  I'm guessing some of my issues are hormone crap (a little less tolerance) but it seems a lot of people follow a similar trajectory so not all of it.

Edited January 10, 2023 by troph

[Al_4_ISU 12463]

The amount of alcohol I can drink without affecting my sleep is dependent on a lot of things.  I'm 37.

On a Thursday night in the summer, I always go biking with some friends.  We ride 10 miles to the next town on the trail, have 1-2 drinks there, and bike back to the town we live.  Usually will have 2 more beers with supper.  So we're at either 3-4 drinks over the course of about 3 hours and 20 miles of biking depending on the night.  If I go home after supper, there will be 0 affect on sleep.  Sometimes someone is feeling squirrely and there will be another 2-3 drinks at the bar after supper, before going home.  If I do this, my sleep will suffer.  I think my line for quality sleep is 4. 

The exception would be if I drink on a Sunday.  Happened a lot during the Pandemic.  We'd get together in someone's yard and grill out and have beers, and it would be pretty easy to put away a 6 pack or more between noon and 5.  But I'd still sleep like a baby Sunday night and feel refreshed Monday morning.  If I drank that much on a Tuesday after work, I'd feel like complete shit the next day.

[Nice Guy Eddie 13512]

2 hours ago, Al_4_ISU said:

This is mostly not a thing at all in my friend groups.

I have a buddy who almost never drinks.  He doesn't completely abstain but I doubt he has 12 drinks a year, but often hosts parties where everyone else is drinking.  The only person that ever pressures him about drinking is the buddy in the group who pretty clearly drinks way too much, and it's lead me to the conclusion that anyone that feels the need to pressure someone else to drink is probably pretty insecure about their own drinking.

agree 100%

2 hours ago, Al_4_ISU said:

This sums me up pretty well.  I hardly ever drink when I'm just at home with the wife and dog.  Hanging out with my buddies I can and do put down quite a bit.

We've got our first kid on the way in July, so I expect that the amount of hanging out with my buddies will go off a freaking cliff and I'm looking forward to the reduction in empty calories.  But most of my friends have kids and still make time for 2-3 weekend benders a year, and that's where my big drinking will come in in the future.

I'm in the same boat with you and @immamac that I rarely drink at home. Any beer or booze I buy, not for having people over, lasts forever.

I've found that the less I drink, the less I can drink. not in terms of being able to handle it but rather it kills my sleep that night. I can fall asleep easily but I will be up by 3 or 4am after drinking.

[Al_4_ISU 12463]

29 minutes ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

agree 100%

I'm in the same boat with you and @immamac that I rarely drink at home. Any beer or booze I buy, not for having people over, lasts forever.

I've found that the less I drink, the less I can drink. not in terms of being able to handle it but rather it kills my sleep that night. I can fall asleep easily but I will be up by 3 or 4am after drinking.

Yup.  That absolutely is true for me, with the exception being a bender weekend with the boys where we stay up until anywhere between 1-3AM, but then I just wake up at 7.

Fridays usually aren't big drinking nights for me on a regular week, but it might be normal to have 3-4 after work with buddies and another couple with supper for somewhere between 5 and 7 on a typical Friday.  I'm up at 4 damn near every Saturday.  Of course, I can drink 2-3 on a Friday and be up at 4 with it having nothing to do with the alcohol - I'm just pumped to have the free time and like to try and get some things done before the sun comes up and I get outside for the day.

[closetohumping 17442]

I don’t get hangovers. Not sure what that means.  Now have their been moments I’m a bit lethargic, yes

[dcbc 14484]

On 1/9/2023 at 8:24 AM, South Austin said:

Dry January can be good coming off of a holiday period during which a lot of us tend to drink heavier, and I'm included in that camp.  But several years ago I stopped drinking during the week.  Somewhere between Kid No. 1 and Kid No. 2 I started having a few glasses of wine or Scotch every night to decompress, and the older I got I realized it impacted my quality of sleep, even if I didn't wake up with any significant hangover.  And sleep quality has improved a lot of other aspects of my overall health and well being.  So while taking a whole month off from alcohol is certainly good for the liver, reduction of empty calories, etc., for the most part I limit my drinking to the weekends throughout the year, so I don't feel the need for a Dry January.

I limit drinking to Thursday through Sunday evenings (for years now) and have started adding in 2 waters for every drink if I'm just hanging around the house.  That usually fills me up pretty well and keeps me from overdoing it too much.  There are exceptions.

[Al_4_ISU 12463]

11 hours ago, closetohumping said:

I don’t get hangovers. Not sure what that means.  Now have their been moments I’m a bit lethargic, yes

I don’t get headaches or nausea, but I’ll just be tired AF and dehydrated.  Just feel generally wiped without acute pain.

[South Austin 52505]

13 hours ago, dcbc said:

I limit drinking to Thursday through Sunday evenings (for years now) and have started adding in 2 waters for every drink if I'm just hanging around the house.  That usually fills me up pretty well and keeps me from overdoing it too much.  There are exceptions.

That's pretty much been me for a long time, except the part about the water.  For some reason, when I'm drinking, whether it be at a dinner party or a Longhorn football game, I tend to forget to work in enough water, and definitely feel it the next morning.  Otherwise, I drink water like a mofo, easily over 100 ounces a day.

[SydneyCarton 48106]

On 1/10/2023 at 4:48 PM, closetohumping said:

I don’t get hangovers. Not sure what that means.  Now have their been moments I’m a bit lethargic, yes

Oh. So you're in your 20s. So fuck you. 

On 1/11/2023 at 4:35 AM, Al_4_ISU said:

I don’t get headaches or nausea, but I’ll just be tired AF and dehydrated.  Just feel generally wiped without acute pain.

Wait till your 40's. 

[Storm the Field 5294]

Day 12. Down to a routine at this point. There are still some good beers left over from New Years in my outdoor fridge and the thought has never even occurred to me to grab one. 

Scheduled cheat day is tomorrow night. Looking forward to cutting loose a bit, but not looking forward to my first hangover in a while on Sunday.

[Homercles 10205]

[El Tri 412]

no drinks since NYE, and feeling pretty damn good. Haven't had any crazy urges.

[closetohumping 17442]

Long weekend coming up

[Homercles 10205]

As noted above I haven’t been on a strict dry January but only drank once, four Pecan Porters (over five hours) a week ago at my buddy’s house for a very rare get together with him.  Don’t see anything for another few weeks where I’ll drink anything…glad for that.  
 

December saw me give back 3 pounds of the 25 I’d lost last year and my resting heart rate went from monthly average of 59 to about 64, mostly due to having at least one drink a good 15/31 days.  Glad to be back on the downlow.  
 

On a side note I love me some Hometown Hero Delta 9 Select Spectrum gummies.  Mail order them, split one with my wife every week or so…good stuff.  At ACL I’d have 3-4 beers during the day then switch to a gummy half when the sun went down, great way to keep vibing without all the complications/hangover.  Legal in Texas.  

Edited January 14, 2023 by Homercles

[Storm the Field 5294]

On 1/13/2023 at 11:37 AM, Storm the Field said:

not looking forward to my first hangover in a while on Sunday.

I was right. Woof.

[huge 3793]

I am really enjoying these new hoppy sparkling waters the brewers are putting out.

My ranking so far.

Sierra Nevada Hop Splash

St Arnold Hop Spring

Southern Star Hoppy Elixer

HOP WTR

[Storm the Field 5294]

Not today, Satan!

Brand new patio bar, which co-workers and I have been watching get built for well over a year, finally opened up right next door to our office this week and they've got a great happy hour.

It's currently 70 degrees and sunny, and if it wasn't January, I'd be sitting out there enjoying my 2nd pint of the afternoon about right now. 

Edited January 19, 2023 by Storm the Field

[closetohumping 17442]

Heineken N/A beers have been good.

[Capt. Squints 176]

19-0 for me. Might as well join the fucking Peace Corps.

[midtown 3345]

I'm 17-2

I expect two more losses

[closetohumping 17442]

I’m sub 500. But have strung together a couple of three game winning streaks

[Storm the Field 5294]

Started a day late, so I'll be 18-1 tomorrow morning. Haven't firmly decided plans for next weekend. I think at worst I'll finish 27-3.

[Wiler77 1566]

I never planned to start on Jan 1, so I'm not counting that. Jan 3 was my start date, and I'm 16-2. Old friend came in town last weekend, and I had a few on sat and sun. Didn't overdo it at all, which I was proud of

 

 

Edited January 21, 2023 by Wiler77

[Homercles 10205]

On 1/20/2023 at 1:38 PM, closetohumping said:

I’m sub 500. But have strung together a couple of three game winning streaks

I saw you posting in the alcoholics thread.  Are you full on trying to quit or just be ‘normal’?  Do you get withdrawals, shakes or other physical symptoms beyond just a hangover?  Do you obsess about drinking on your days off?

I will tell you, at least from my own personal experience, that you may be torturing yourself a bit by having your longest streak be only 3 days.  For many physical addictions that seems to be about the baseline for fully ridding them of your body, and for mental habits that’s just when you begin to establish a ‘new normal’.  For me, it wasn’t until I started stringing 6+ days together that I stopped thinking about it regularly, with the added bonus of reduced tolerance so I’m comfortable with 1-3 drinks instead of ‘ok might as well keep going’.  
 

Obviously if you are a full blown alcoholic then this doesn’t apply to you, but my situation was more a mix of boredom and self medication for a particularly stressful period of my life. I was using alcohol as a Time Machine to fast forward through rough patches instead of having a full blown addiction.  
 

By the grace of god or the universe I’ll maintain this new relationship with alcohol.  My point being that, for people like me, 2-3 dry days at a time wasn’t enough to establish a new normal…instead that was right on the edge between maintaining the habit and building a ‘new normal’…aka it was torturous.  
 

Try longer, and if you legit can’t…take a hard look at help.  To be fair it took me many tries to get there during my dark days…don’t be too hard on yourself.  

On a side note, my hardest drinking friend made it all of six days for dry January.  I have tried to get her to try 2 drinks then switch to a THC gummy (gentle buzz and I want nothing to do with alcohol when high), instead she just takes the gummy and keeps drinking = beyond wasted.  

Edited January 21, 2023 by Homercles

[Texzilla58 4736]

Reading some of these stories of high reliance on alcohol for getting thru life is depressing. Fortunately I got off the booze bus years back. And now take meds that keep me from drinking at all so I’m glad.

Looking back at the crashed marriages, destroyed careers, and deaths caused by alcohol I’ve been through I’m glad it’s out of my life. Alcohol is a dangerous drug. Good luck to all of you trying to reset your relationship with it. If you think you might need help now is the time to get it. If you’re planning on how to include benders in your role as a parent please get help today.

[troph 24798]

Sleep is fantastic, haven’t lost any weight because I haven’t tried to change my diet back to the super healthy but that’ll come in due course.  Wifey pretty much joined me this month and it’s been great. 

[txduck87 985]

Off the sauce for 56 days. Down 14 pounds, great sleep, anxiety gone, better relationships, better moods. Decided to keep it up for at least 6 months. Maybe for good. Just realizing that alcohol really doesn’t do anything positive for me. Just my 2 cents. Stay strong for all those doing dry January.

[Storm the Field 5294]

Another weekend in the bag. Heading into the home stretch y'all.

[closetohumping 17442]

On 1/21/2023 at 12:02 PM, Homercles said:

I saw you posting in the alcoholics thread.  Are you full on trying to quit or just be ‘normal’?  Do you get withdrawals, shakes or other physical symptoms beyond just a hangover?  Do you obsess about drinking on your days off?

I will tell you, at least from my own personal experience, that you may be torturing yourself a bit by having your longest streak be only 3 days.  For many physical addictions that seems to be about the baseline for fully ridding them of your body, and for mental habits that’s just when you begin to establish a ‘new normal’.  For me, it wasn’t until I started stringing 6+ days together that I stopped thinking about it regularly, with the added bonus of reduced tolerance so I’m comfortable with 1-3 drinks instead of ‘ok might as well keep going’.  
 

Obviously if you are a full blown alcoholic then this doesn’t apply to you, but my situation was more a mix of boredom and self medication for a particularly stressful period of my life. I was using alcohol as a Time Machine to fast forward through rough patches instead of having a full blown addiction.  
 

By the grace of god or the universe I’ll maintain this new relationship with alcohol.  My point being that, for people like me, 2-3 dry days at a time wasn’t enough to establish a new normal…instead that was right on the edge between maintaining the habit and building a ‘new normal’…aka it was torturous.  
 

Try longer, and if you legit can’t…take a hard look at help.  To be fair it took me many tries to get there during my dark days…don’t be too hard on yourself.  

On a side note, my hardest drinking friend made it all of six days for dry January.  I have tried to get her to try 2 drinks then switch to a THC gummy (gentle buzz and I want nothing to do with alcohol when high), instead she just takes the gummy and keeps drinking = beyond wasted.  

Appreciate your thoughts.  Idk where I'm at tbh.  I'd like to slow down for sure.  It's just so easy to have a drink after a long day, or even a short day.  It's like a co-dependency and I think it tastes good.  It definitely needs to be a once a week at most sort of thing for me.  I don't get crazy drunk, my tolerance is remarkable, but it does make me moody at times.

[Js1 85337]

15 hours ago, txduck87 said:

Off the sauce for 56 days. Down 14 pounds, great sleep, anxiety gone, better relationships, better moods. Decided to keep it up for at least 6 months. Maybe for good. Just realizing that alcohol really doesn’t do anything positive for me. Just my 2 cents. Stay strong for all those doing dry January.

I'm sort of on this boat too - it doesn't do anything positive for me and just costs money and empty calories.  Even among friends on Saturday, I had no desire to even grab a beer or seltzer from the fridge.  Kinda seeing how far I can go in 2023. 

[DFWTexEx 276]

We are doing dry January + eating better + being more active.  So far so good.  I can't see drinking until a nice big red with steak on Valentine's day. I love how much better I am sleeping and how good I feel when I wake up.

We are social drinkers through the year, drinking some wine with most meals and cocktails when we go out.  But, like everyone else, the number of events, birthdays (including mine), and other celebrations in Q4 is just off the charts so it got to be too much. By the time Jan 1 came, I was ready to hit pause. I haven't missed it at all, except for the social part of it.  But, since more than half the people I know and hang out with are also on dry January, it hasn't been terrible. 

[txduck87 985]

I'm sort of on this boat too - it doesn't do anything positive for me and just costs money and empty calories.  Even among friends on Saturday, I had no desire to even grab a beer or seltzer from the fridge.  Kinda seeing how far I can go in 2023. 

This book changed my whole perspective about alcohol. Highly recommend it if you’re even remotely interested in changing your relationship with alcohol.

[Degenerate Gardner 4085]

I’m in after starting Jan 5. Lagunitas Hoppy Refresher and a spate of Q ginger beers have filled the slot fine.

There are moments when it occurred to me I wanted a drink, but fortunately the lonely, unfinished bottles of booze we have at home are not irresistible. I am so very grateful for that.

 

Edited January 24, 2023 by Degenerate Gardner

[South Austin 52505]

17 hours ago, DFWTexEx said:

I love how much better I am sleeping and how good I feel when I wake up.

That's really it for me.  I don't drink often enough and enough enough where hangovers are a regular thing.  But as I got older, I found that even two drinks on a weeknight will throw off my sleep.

Also, cutting out alcohol during the week resulted in pooping more regularly.  #hecalledtheshitpoop

[Chico_SA 521]

Just found this thread....probably because I AM doing Dry January.  I've really have had no problem with it, and I'm a pretty regular beer drinker.  Most challenging days were the 2nd Sunday of January when I was grilling, and then last week after a long day of coaching. I entered into it as part of a weight loss jump start and it's definitely helped.  I tend to snack more and eat later when I'm having drinks.  

I'm also working out more when I might normally be grabbing a beverage.  It feels like my habits will be different once I lift the "full on dry" restriction. 

I've definitely saved a lot of money this month, but I've been drinking a shit load of sparkling water. 

 

Edited January 26, 2023 by Chico_SA

[troph 24798]

On 1/17/2023 at 11:25 AM, huge said:

I am really enjoying these new hoppy sparkling waters the brewers are putting out.

My ranking so far.

Sierra Nevada Hop Splash

St Arnold Hop Spring

Southern Star Hoppy Elixer

HOP WTR

My lady likes them. I prefer the NA beers, the Sam Adams NA IPA is pretty good. Better than the Athletic NA beers imo.

I could take or leave real beer, doesn’t do much for me, the hoppy and fermented texture and flavors are good in NA beers and kombucha for that experience.  My thing is I really enjoy a nice glass of wine and a single malt scotch in the winter. Those are experiences I just don’t want to give up.

Edited January 27, 2023 by troph

[closetohumping 17442]

Ok four in a row!   They need to invent non alcoholic bourbon

[Storm the Field 5294]

Epic cheat night!  Wife was going out of town so bought myself a steak and drank 3 whole beers over the course of 4 hours or so yesterday evening.

Gonna  lay off again today and tomorrow. Want to have a couple drinks while making a nice Sunday dinner. That'll put me at 27-3 on the month, which was my goal. Will start February on a little mini-bender for work events next Wednesday and Thursday, but I intend to quickly revert back to "slim to none" weekday drinking the rest of February.

[SydneyCarton 48106]

13 hours ago, troph said:

My lady likes them. I prefer the NA beers, the Sam Adams NA IPA is pretty good. Better than the Athletic NA beers imo.

I could take or leave real beer, doesn’t do much for me, the hoppy and fermented texture and flavors are good in NA beers and kombucha for that experience.  My thing is I really enjoy a nice glass of wine and a single malt scotch in the winter. Those are experiences I just don’t want to give up.

Look into Partake NA beers. Again, I love them, and they're also super low carb compared to other NA beers. 

2 hours ago, closetohumping said:

Ok four in a row!   They need to invent non alcoholic bourbon

Good fucking luck. I assume it would be about the same as NA wines, and those fucking suuuuuuuuck. 

[closetohumping 17442]

6 minutes ago, SydneyCarton said:

Look into Partake NA beers. Again, I love them, and they're also super low carb compared to other NA beers. 

Good fucking luck. I assume it would be about the same as NA wines, and those fucking suuuuuuuuck. 

The Heinekens are close to the alcohol version but I’m such a lush I can pick up on it

[SydneyCarton 48106]

40 minutes ago, closetohumping said:

The Heinekens are close to the alcohol version but I’m such a lush I can pick up on it

Yeah, Heinekin's are probably the closest I've tasted to the original recipe. Which I guess is an excuse for the  being skunk beers?

[closetohumping 17442]

Great resource on non alcoholic alternatives including a N/A tequila. 
 

https://www.sunnyside.co/blog/non-alcoholic-brands?fbclid=IwAR2tqzzHCvtzxrzqgU8DzT7xCyYE9LOZ0UNoD2tyI_aFeTdiX9nDiMz5nfk&mibextid=Zxz2cZ

[closetohumping 17442]

And another:

 

https://boisson.co/collections/nkd-ldy?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIxOGfktDt_AIVUCBMCh3puA9WEAAYASAAEgJIQfD_BwE

[Firemans4Horn 18050]

31 for 31. Lost 14 pounds this month. 
 

Nice to come home from work and have the self control to not immediately grab a beer or a bourbon. Booze was becoming too big a part of my identity and my kids are now old enough where they don’t need to see me having a drink every night with dinner. 
 

Planning to keep it going through February and then reassess. I have a work conference at the end of March that might be my stretch goal. 

[Storm the Field 5294]

26-4, although 2 of those  were very light "3 beers over the course of 4 hours" affairs . Lost about 9 lbs on the month and got back into a steady exercise routine. Down a notch on my belt. Mission accomplished. 

Intend to continue to limit weekday drinking as much as possible, but if I feel like tagging along to a Thursday happy hour or nursing a couple beers while grilling, I'll do it, but really going to try and cut out occasions of "drinking just because." And start a bit later and drink a little less on weekends. 

[closetohumping 17442]

2 hours ago, Storm the Field said:

26-4, although 2 of those  were very light "3 beers over the course of 4 hours" affairs . Lost about 9 lbs on the month and got back into a steady exercise routine. Down a notch on my belt. Mission accomplished. 

Intend to continue to limit weekday drinking as much as possible, but if I feel like tagging along to a Thursday happy hour or nursing a couple beers while grilling, I'll do it, but really going to try and cut out occasions of "drinking just because." And start a bit later and drink a little less on weekends. 

Yea.  A couple of my Ls were two drink nights. 

[Js1 85337]

31-0

[Chico_SA 521]

31 - 0.